HIGH SCHOOL BOYS SOCCER: Rodriguez's early tally powers Trenton

TRENTON — The Trenton boys’ soccer team has had its share of bright spots under the regime of Dave Tindall and Joe Fink.

But you would have to go back a few years to find a more eventful 24-hour span than the Tornadoes enjoyed the past two days.

One day after winning with two goals in the match’s final three minutes, Trenton scored 1:30 into play yesterday to take a 1-0 victory over Nottingham and even its record at 4-4-1.

On Thursday, Trenton fell behind 1-0 with eight minutes to play before rallying in the final three minutes for a 2-1 win over Hopewell Valley

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Technically, that made three goals within 4:30 of play to win two games against two of the top teams in the Colonial Valley Conference.

“That win (against HoVal) just brought us up,” said sweeper Ludwin Rodriguez, who had the game’s lone goal. “We came out today and we just wanted to win. We’re starting to play together as a team now.”

“It feels good,” said Tindall, whose squad beat Hopewell and Nottingham last year as well, but a little further apart. “The kids are up now, they’ve done a lot of hard work. We had to put a few things together, but they’re doing it.

“They’re practicing hard now and it’s starting to pay off. Hopefully we can continue at this rate.”

The match-up was a battle between two sides coming off big comebacks — Nottingham had rallied to beat Hightstown after trailing by two goals Thursday.

One team carried the momentum, the other didn’t.

Iconic soccer fanBill Drake barely had time to settle into his easy chair behind the fence when Anderson Martinez slid a pass to Rodriguez, who one-touched a bullet in the game’s second minute.

“I just took it, I didn’t even think about it,” Rodriguez said. “It felt good when it hit it.”

It also surprised the Tornadoes.

“We don’t usually score that quick in a game,” Tindall said. “We went from one end of the spectrum to the other in the last two days. It was great.”

Well, not great for everybody.

“We were worried about a letdown before we even stepped on the bus today,” Nottingham coach Mike Braender said. “We talked about it yesterday, talked before the game, and I don’t know what it was.

“But Trenton played a good game. Don’t take anything away from them. They played large the whole game and we gave in a little bit. They played a good game.”

Once Rodriguez scored, the game went back and forth in territorial advantage and opportunities until the final 15 minutes, when Nottingham began scrambling for the equalizer. The Northstars had several near-misses but continued to pressure in and around the box.

Goalie Alex Marroquin, who had eight saves for the clean sheet, and Rodriguez helped short-circuit the Stars (6-3) along with stopper Arnold Teo and outside backs Arthur Tartee and Simon Lopez.

“We’ve been playing better defense,” Tindall said. “That’s been our worry spot but the guys are stepping up now and I think we’ve found the right combination.”

It’s a combination that has Trenton hopping.

“We just beat two quality teams,” Tindall said. “Every game is tough and these guys stepped up and are pulling through.”